Q&A 12.6.18

I am interested in starting a subscription. As a physically active Hospital Corpsman in the USN I am interested in becoming a Special Amphibious Recon Corpsman in the future. Committing myself to training these next two years my aim is to pass the initial test and get into the pipeline as soon as I am pushed through FMTB. My main question is; after completing the “Military On Ramp” should I proceed with the “Greek Hero” course then “Pirate” course or visa-versa? I would like some input on which course to start with. Thank you for your time, I am looking forward to your response.

ANSWER

Proceed to the Pirate Packet 1 of plans after Military Onramp. These plans include swimming, which you’ll need for selection.

– Rob

QUESTION

I’m reaching out on behalf of my wife. She is applying to be an FBI agent and today she took her pft. She did fine until the 1.5 mile run and something happened to the posterior part of her heel to where she was limping around the track at the very end. (She failed by 2 points.) No worries on that, we’ll see what the doc has to say, get her plenty of rest, and let her heal up for the next go around. My concern, and this is why I’m reaching out to you, is because she was doing Stew Smith’s FBI course to get ready and I’m wondering if there was too much volume and she over-trained.

I would like her to look for another training plan to go on and I wanted to reach out to you to kinda feel out where your training was at to make sure this doesn’t happen again (over-training – if that’s what it truly was) if we purchase your pdf.

Thanks. I understand that this email is vague in its goals in reaching out to you, but I want to see her succeed next time.

ANSWER

I’m not sure you can blame overtraining on your wife’s running performance – could be some type of injury, could be the stress from the assessment – so I’m not sure.

Here is our FBI SA PFT Training Plan, which is what I’d recommend from our programming. Complete it the 6 weeks directly before her next assessment.

– Rob

QUESTION

I am planning on conducting a Rim-Rim multi-day trip this Winter and would love to know which program(s) you recommend. I’m an Army infantry vet with broad experience in endurance activities and currently have a solid baseline in fitness overall. The plan is to complete the hike in 3 days, 2 nights. Thank you so much for your time.

I recently had my first ruck march this past weekend and it got my knee acting up (an old injury) and I have another one coming up this weekend. Is there anything I can do to minimize the pain and/or to not make it worse?

Also, I’m 4’11 and I’m having a hard time keeping up with the rest of my troop. Are you able to give me tips on how to keep up?

I have been a member on and off for a few years, thanks for your hard work.

Quick question, for the Mountain Base Charlie program I know there are many complex exercises and I’m new to the plan, but are any working the “chest” or pushing? If not, should I add in some pushups?

The bottom line is I’m trying to keep my strength, and some size, up as much as possible while actively climbing at the gym multiple days a week. Also, I have a subscription so if you think I should be doing another plan please let me know.

ANSWER

Mountain Base Charlie includes general strength training, which includes pushing exercises.

I have a little less than 2 years and preparing for SOF selection for Croatian special forces and am currently looking for a program to help me. I’m bad at running and need to work on that. My PFTscore is 246/300 consisting of 2 mile run, push ups and sit ups in 2 minutes. Which program should I choose?

I was a subscriber for years and have been back in the crossfit box for the past three years. It has been great, to be in a group, but I “tweaked” my knee doing cleans and have decided to go back to my old standby. I’m 49 now, but not a big runner, so the 45+ doesn’t excite me. Should I do it anyway at my age and scale the miles??? Or pick and choose the various plans and swap things around in the “packets?

ANSWER

Take a look at our Country Singer Plans – these are designed as general fitness programming, still have endurance, but not as much as the SF45 plans.

Loving the new version of the Backcountry program. Feel plenty tired but way less “beat up” than V2. I feel I may have been a little over excited with my start date (2 weeks ago) with most of my bigger trips planned for February and March. Would it be suitable transitioning to the Ski guide program after the BC ski program is done. Is there an update coming for the ski guide program?

From the Firefighter training to the ski training I will forever be referring people to your programs and you work. Thank you for your contribution to the fitness landscape. You are a net covering what was once a gaping hole.

ANSWER

Ski guide will likely be redundant – but that’s an option. Best would be to drop into the Mountain Base programming found in the Greek Heroine Plans and actually ski 2-4x/week.

Next best is to complete the BC plan now, then re-do the last 4 weeks before your trips in Feb/March.

No current plans for an update to the ski guide plan.

– Rob

QUESTION

I’m on Session 3 of the BW Foundation. I have access to an assisted pull up and dip machine. What do you think about using it instead of bench dips and horizontal pullups?

ANSWER

Just do the max rep assessment on the machine and your progressions on the machine. But when you re-asses, try unassisted pull ups.

– Rob

QUESTION

I just found your website and I want to excel on the USAF PAST, I was wondering what the best program is for my situation. I usualy get up at 0430 and don’t have to be into work until 0800. That time I usualy spend in the gym and reading my scriptures. I have access to a 25meter pool as well as a full gym. I normally do not workout in the evenings as I use that time to go to an Arabic class and do my subsequent homework. As far as events in the PAST I am sitting at 67 pushups, 6 pullups 100 situps12:18 on the 500 meter swim and a 10:43 on the 1.5 mile run. I am have a difficult time doing the underwater swim as well. Please let me know what would be the best program or sets of programs for my situation. Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.

I’m really interested in MTI. I discovered it while listening to a “Quiet Professional” Podcast by Mr. Rob Shaul, followed the link out of curiosity and I’m intrigued.

Guessing you’ve heard this before: I’m out of shape and I really need to do something about it.

In my case it’s the truth, but I have questions/concerns and I’m hoping you can help convince me MTI is the right way to go.

Background:

I used to play Ice Hockey and be relatively fit. I’ve climbed the highest peaks in Hawaii (where I went to college) and surfed and experienced a lot of intense outdoor activities. That was when I was 6′ 0″,190 lbs, and outside a lot. I walked/roller-bladed everywhere.

Now, I’m a 230 lb Engineer with a desk job who has less and less time in the day. I don’t like this trend.

Concerns:

I run out of steam around the 1 mile mark while running. It’s probably a weight thing. I used to run 2/3 miles consistently, but my heart rate goes right through the roof at half a mile and I push it to finish the mile

I have zero equipment

I have very little indoor space to work out (think, prison cell workouts, ha!, I have room mates and no extra rooms).

I now live in North Dakota and we’re facing either -20 deg. F or +95 deg. F outside, working out in these conditions makes it tricky to measure any day against any other day and tricky to not freeze your nose off.

Self motivation is hard, but I can find it.

What I’m looking For:

I want to get in shape, but obviously I can’t just start with expecting to get a perfect Marine Core PFT Score (I’ve never been able to do 20 chin ups, but I want to be there). Do you have recommendations for going from out of shape to fit and from fit to awesome again?

I want to start by purchasing like no gear at all. So I’ve got 2x 35 lb dumbbells, running shoes, and that’s it. Where do I start if I want to purchase zero gear? If you can’t recommend something that uses zero gear, what gear do I NEED to get started? (links to where I can buy it?). I want to prove to myself that I’m working out consistently before I get too excited about buying anything expensive. I can get a gym membership to access lots of gear, fast, but I’m concerned that if I don’t have a plan, the membership will be useless, and I’d really like to get a little bit ahead of completely out of shape before I start paying for that type of subscription, as well.

For getting started, what sort of metrics should I track to measure this journey (weight, max distance, max chin-ups, max push ups, etc. come to mind)? I want to keep a journal and track my progress, I’ll share my notes if it amounts to something.

Do you guys have any recommended meal plans/food choices? I don’t like to cook, I can barely stand salads, I don’t like buying expensive and hard to find ingredients, but I can be convinced, and I can eat anything if it’s necessary (no allergies, and my drive to be better is greater than my need for happiness related to food). For example: I currently use Huel (https://huel.com/) as a replacement for going out to eat every lunch. I like it because it’s not pizza, it takes zero time, and I can order it on a scheduled basis so it takes zero prep work/shopping.

I am currently active duty Navy and work at a pool teaching water survival and go to college full time. I graduate and will be applying for a Navy EOD officer and to Army OCS in May when I graduate. I do not have time to work, study and use the gym. I have time to workout at work but usually cannot leave the building for very long. I can swim and we have pull up bars, weight vest, 50lb and 25lb dumbbells, kettlebell, 60lb sandbag and a tire thats about 20” tall. I am looking to run a few months of programs using these materials and would like some suggestions on how I should run them. I just completed the Military on ramp and was thinking of doing the sandbag/weightvest/dumbell plan, followed by humility and then the PST program. I would like to add swimming into the sb/wv/db plan and humility, how do I do this? I would like to run the pirate packet but it is not possible, equiptment and time wise until after I graduate. Are there any packets that use just bodyweight and the few tools I have available right now, and how do I add in more swimming?

ANSWER

I don’t have a plan that’s perfect for you.

Swimming to sandbag/weight vest/dumbbell and Humility? Replace 1/2 of the running with swimming, and go for time, not distance. Likely 60 minutes.

You could also do the BUDs V2 Training Plan – just use the weight vest for the rucks.

– Rob

QUESTION

I’m an AFROTC cadet applying for the TACP Officer career field. Recently, I made the mistake of increasing my training volume too quickly and have developed mild stress fractures in both of my shins. I’ve been ordered off running/impact exercises until cleared by an orthopedic doctor as a result. I’m probably looking at 6 weeks before I’m cleared to run again, but I don’t want to lose fitness between now and then. I was hoping y’all could recommend a plan to maintain fitness while recovering. If swimming is what y’all recommend it would have to be a beginner level plan, because I’m not a great swimmer.

Thank y’all for the help. I’ve had an athlete’s subscription for about a year now and I love it. Y’all put out great products and have really helped me improve my physical fitness.

I have been training on one of your older plans a buddy gave me. It was a great start and now I’m looking to move forward. I need guidance. I do have access to gym but I also love doing cardio/endurance workouts.

Currently, I am 5’6″ at 175lbs. I have decent endurance built from your workout and a full drive to keep improving. I want to maintain my endurance but need to gain some strength/muscle now. I was an infantryman and looking to become a Special Agent with the FBI in a few years. So I like that military endurance and mindset although I need that added strength to my chasis.

Any help you can give me will be greatly appreciated. Once I hear from you I fully intend to subscribe and use your workouts. At this point I need that experienced guide to help me reach my goals.

I was wanting to start prepping for the ACFT. But I am on a profile. Basically not in as good a shape as I once was and can only swim, lift weights, possibly bike and/or row pending pain. Profile for bad case of shin splints in right leg. Recommendations for non-impact plan? Burpees are out due to pain level.

I just signed up for your Athlete subscription. I’m hoping to get some advice on where to start.

I’m a 37 year old army national guard captain. Currently I’m a flight surgeon in an ARB but I have aspirations to switch to the SF group in our state after putting in 3 years in my current position. That will involve going to dive medical officer school (eventually will need to do water training but not a priority now).

I just finished training for and completing the Wasatch 100 under my goal time and now I want to transition to more general fitness and improving upper body strength.

My big deficiency is upper body and core strength. To make it in SF I need to be maxing my APFT (and the ACFT when that happens) for the next few years. Right now I’m doing 50 push ups and 55 sit ups. I’ve been a mountain endurance athlete for a while and have no problem doing well on the run. I figure I’ll switch to your APFT training plan 6 weeks before a test, but what’s the best plan to generally improve upper body strength will all of the above in mind?

Additionally, I’m deployed now but when I get back I’ll be doing jiujitsu regularly as well as backcountry skiing and big game hunting (I live in Evanston, WY not to far from you guys). What do you recommend as far as incorporating those other activities into your training plans?

Follow it up with the plans/order in the Greek Hero packet of plans – starting with Hector. These plans are designed as day to day programming for Infantry/land based SOF and concurrently train strength, work capacity, endurance (run/ruck), tactical agility, and chassis integrity. Start with Hector.

Then drop back into the Greek Hero programming as your day to day programming.

– Rob

QUESTION

I have been having my squad, and now the platoon working through the Grunt PT sessions and a few of your other series. Is there a way to make things flow smoothly? At times, I dont get through the workouts due to time or the ability to set things up quickly?

ANSWER

Split the platoon up into squads, and have one squad do the strength session, one do the work capacity/chassis integrity session, and one do the endurance session. This will maximize your equipment availability.

– Rob

QUESTION

I’m looking for training plan recs. I patrol full-time in Taos, which is an area that includes some hike-to terrain, biggest walk being about 60 mins. Current goals include basic strength, stability, etc for the ski season, but with an aim to ski bigger lines in the Tetons in April. Maybe compete recreationally in a skimo race or two in February and March. Pre-season training has been fairly limited in terms of focus. Fair bit of mountain biking, including a month-long bike packing trip that’s just concluded. Thanks for any direction you can provide!